Skelos Welcomes Felder, Democrats Confident They Still Have Majority

As Sen.-elect Simcha Felder declares he’s conferencing with the Republicans this January, Senate Democratic spokesman Mike Murphy released a statement this afternoon saying the Democrats are “confident” that will have the majority in the chamber this fall.

The voters sent a clear message on election night that they want the Senate led by a Democratic Majority. We are confident that when the Senate convenes in January, there will be that Democratic Majority and we look forward to working with Governor Cuomo to achieve the progressive agenda he has laid out.

As Liz scooped earlier, the Democrat Felder, who won the so-called “super Jewish” Senate district in Brooklyn against Republican Sen. David Storobin, has decided to side with the Senate GOP, giving them an edging in preserving their majority come 2013.

But Democrats point to two unresolved races that expect to win: Terry Gipson leading Sen. Stephen Saland in the Poughkeepsie area, while Cecilia Tkaczyk holds a 139-vote lead in the Mohawk Valley seat against Assemblyman George Amedore.

If both Gipson and Tkaczyk win, they will have a numerical 32-member majority in the Senate and make the four-member Independent Democratic Conference more important in leadership negotiations.

I am very pleased to welcome Senator-elect Simcha Felder to the Senate Republican Conference. Mr. Felder has shared with me the issues that are most important to his constituents, including economic development and job creation, reducing taxes and providing financial relief for hardworking families. Those have been our priorities in the past and will continue to be our priorities as we begin the next legislative session. Senator-elect Felder will be a valuable member of our conference as we work to address the concerns raised by his community and continue to move this state forward.

This entry was posted by Nick Reisman on November 13, 2012 at 5:32 pm, and is filed under Democrats, IDC, State Senate. Follow any responses to this post through RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

Rog Murdock

He should have a Democratic opponent raising money by Monday.

Sheldon Skelos

What will that do?

He ain’t losing so fast in that district with the Orthodox multiplying like laboratory mice.

Berkshire_Boy

Rat batard!

Rog Murdock

He won on the Democratic Line. Deny it to him the next time and see if he wins again. If he and the IDC are going to sell their souls, there is not much that can be done about it right now.

Akin to the Blue Dog Democrats in Congress who lost to Republicans who then lose to Dems, there is a process here. It will not be fixed overnight. But New York is a Democratic State, and if ultimately the Dems can hold the Senate in 2020, the Senate will never be Republican again.

http://www.vjmachiavelli.blogspot.com VJ Machiavelli

Dean “The Fox” Skelos cut a “Deal” and now Simcha is keeping his end of it.

In fact he has made so many one needs a super computer to keep track.

Before there was the “Oracle of Delphi” there was Count Vampire J. Machiavelli

s the GOP party. From School Choice (Vouchers), Cutting down on red-tape Bureaucrats, Tax Cuts, to strong social and family values as Pro-Life & against the so-called redefinition of Marriage.
I know Simcha for 15 years, before being elected to the City Council, (when he was still a private citizen), & he’s not a typical political hack that’s always looking out for
what benefits himself. Conversely, he very often crossed party lines if he felt the GOP candidate is more in line with his or the communities positions. He has voted for famous Republicans, including Mayor Guiliani in ’93, Gov. Pataki in ’94, & ’98 and President Bush in ’04. (I’m not sure for who he voted in ’00.)
I wish Simcha great success on working on behalf of his constituents that have elected him.

Opportunist

What an opportunist, just like Kruger! What is in the water out there anyway? Felder was elected on the Democratic line as a Democrat. The Republican opponent lost. How do you spell P-R-I-M-A-R-Y?

Rza

Felder was always going to caucus with the GOP. Storobin winning last years special election is the only reason Felder even had an opponent and wasnt cross endorsed. The GOP supported Felder from day one, he has the conservative line and is pro-business.

GOP control comes down to amedore. If he wins, GOP is in charge and the IDC stays where they are now. If he loses, then IDC sides with skelos, power sharing agreement, with governors blessing.

That is my best read of what went on and what will happen.

http://www.facebook.com/people/Mike-Flynn/100001703540782 Mike Flynn

Skelos is declaring War on Democratic Party’

Run as a Democrat serve as a Republican? This is what gives politics a bad name and if Simca Felder gets a free pass on this by fellow Democrats they are tarnished too. The only way to handle Mr. Felder pulling this stunt is to find any and every way to defeat him next election, or to find grounds to have him expelled ASAP, for falsely misrepresenting himself to the voters. There really needs to be some type of pre-election process that guarantees voters they’re getting a Democratic Senator when they vote for one. This is a disgrace and safeguards need to be put in place to stop it.

Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos praising Mr. Felders move into the Republican fold is a declaration of war against the Democratic Party and now it’s time for Mr. Murphy and everyone else advocating that voters get what they voted for ‘A Democratic Majority in the State Senate’ and nothing less. Clearly this is a respect issue and the Democratic Party having earned that respect by winning the ‘Majority’ will now have to fight to make sure they get that ‘Majority’ for the voters of NYS.

Mike Flynn ‘Middle Class Mike’

Rza

Again, Mr. Felder ran saying he would side with whomever best represented the district. Orthodox Jews, while registered democrats, vote heavily republican all the time. Whether he runs as a democratic party candidate or a republican party candidate, Mr. Felder is going to win.

The party labels need to go and we should start having non-partisan elections where people are forced to vote on ideas rather than party loyalty.